Day 11 of my drabble-a-day challenge. Here is today’s drabble:
The Little Girl Who Loved Yellow
My hand hovered over the bottle of pink food colouring.
"Yellow," whispered my mum, voice shaking. "She loves yellow."
"I loved orange when I was six. People change."
Mum looked me over, top-to-toe black and bleached hair. "She loves yellow."
I sighed, tinted the icing yellow, and spread it on the cake. Cake for the birthday after Pippa's sixth birthday, the birthday we celebrate every year. Cake she would never eat.
The framed photo of me changes: new school, graduation, engagement party.
The matching photo of Pippa stays the same. Yellow dress, yellow ribbons. Trapped forever at six.
This is another idea that has been rattling around for a while, but which never seemed to have quite enough substance for a short story. Clearly the answer is that I just need to write shorter stories.